UK corporate leaders have been urged to stand by diversity and inclusion policies. The advice is to resist following the example of US companies abandoning DEI programmes ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration as US president on Monday.

In the past week, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has called for more “masculine energy” in corporate leadership, while high-profile companies including Walmart, McDonald’s and John Deere, have announced plans to scale back diversity and inclusion practices.

Roger Barker, policy director for the Institute of Directors, says UK companies should stick with DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion).

“Keep calm and carry on,” Barker says. “A constructive approach to inclusion and diversity makes sense from a business perspective, despite the political headwinds.”

‘Fluctuations in political fashion’

He adds: “For most UK companies, the trend toward inclusion and diversity in business practices is a permanent shift in mindset and behaviour. It is less susceptible to fluctuations in political fashion compared with the US.”

Barker’s views are echoed by Fiona Hathorn, chief executive of networking organisation Women on Boards, who says the noise on DEI from across the Atlantic is “deeply concerning”. Companies aligning their strategies with “fleeting political trends” risk their integrity and potentially their performance, she says.

“Rather than shutting out the noise from the US, UK companies should take it as a cautionary tale. Reactionary moves often result in lost progress and reduced trust.

“Instead, organisations should double down on DEI efforts, not as a moral obligation, but as a strategic imperative that supports innovation, culture and compliance.”

Abandoning long-term programmes, Hathorn says, “risks eroding years of progress.

“The focus should be on adapting and evolving these programmes to meet new challenges, not dismantling them for short-term appeasement.”

Not all US companies have abandoned DEI. Costco, a $100bn grocery chain, says it will continue its DEI initiatives, while the board of international tech giant Apple has called on stockholders to vote against a shareholder proposal to end its DEI programmes.

Zuckerberg decision ‘a disgrace’

Recent policy decisions at Meta and Facebook from Mark Zuckerberg’s camp have angered many. Suki Sandhu, a judge in last year’s Sunday Times Non-executive Director Awards and London-based founder and chief executive of Involve, a specialist headhunting firm, this week posted on LinkedIn that Meta’s decision under Zuckerberg to drop rules aimed at protecting the LGBTQ community were a ”disgrace”.

“Let’s call this what it is: a blatant attack on LGBTQ+ inclusion and a step backwards for equality, diversity and progress,” Sandhu writes.

“Meta’s latest anti-LGBTQ+ changes are beyond disappointing—they are harmful, regressive and outright wrong.”

Turning to the “masculine energy” remarks, Sandhu says: “This kind of toxic rhetoric has no place in 2025, let alone in any workplace. It promotes outdated stereotypes, fosters exclusion and completely disregards the progress we’ve made toward building more inclusive and equitable work environments.”

The US has seen at least two major courtroom reversals for DEI policies in recent times. In June 2023, the US Supreme Court ruled that affirmative action in college admissions was “unconstitutional”, sending shockwaves through the university and corporate sector.

More recently, a court ruled that regulators at the US Securities and Exchange Commission had overstepped their powers when signing off on new Nasdaq diversity reporting rules.

Proxy adviser ISS has since warned that many companies are stepping away from DEI policies. However, its analysts also speculate that DEI will be around for a while. At board level, they say, it “remains an important topic for many issuers and institutional investors, and ESG metrics in executive compensation programmes appear to be resilient and likely to remain part of executive incentives.”

Not all UK politicians support diversity programmes. In May last year, current Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, then equalities minister, said DEI policies “divide rather than unify”.

The US presidency is about to change and enormous pressure will likely follow for corporates to turn their backs on DEI. The outcry and debate that follows will be heard in the UK and further afield.